How might a musician answer the question, “Why do you play?” What would an artist reply to, “Why do you paint?” My fascination for the written word began early in life. At the tender age of eleven, I submitted a short story to the children’s column of the Oakland Tribune, and won top honors. Over …
Sometimes issues, problems, or challenges that arise in my life motivate me to write. When I address difficult situations through writing, the built-up tension and worry releases and I am better able to discover a solution. This kind of writing is usually for my eyes only. There’s no reason to subject readers to the crazy …
I am certain that WWII seems like ancient history to many, but I was a small child living in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. Civilization was on the cusp of the first technological advances of the twentieth century. Televisions—black and white—had been created but were not common in the average household. Telephones still …
Whenever I ask why someone writes, I get a different yet similar answer. The details change, but the essence is always that there’s a story in the writer’s head struggling to be heard. Whether the story is based on fact or springs entirely from imagination, the characters are real, and they have loud voices. The …
Although “Back-to-School” means nothing to my schedule and budget now, I still think of the end of summer as a new beginning. Creating new schedules when vacation has disrupted the old one is a good time to re-examine what I do. A book I read this summer, Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger, …
Why Am I Here and What Am I Supposed to Be Doing? by Lani Longshore Read More »
The other day my husband was trying to remember to plug in his electric car. In the morning, he asked me not to let him forget to do that later in the day. In the afternoon, he told me he had written himself a note reminding him to charge the car. In the early evening, …
In Praise of Talking to Yourself by Lani Longshore Read More »
While watching Gettysburg on the 4th of July, my husband wondered aloud why no one developed a smoke canister to disorient the foe in those years . Smoke screens were used for tactical advantage, but I haven’t been able to find anything about a smoke canister for 19th century cannons. If indeed it was never invented, …
The Social Media Group discussed a post about blog titles recently. Savaged the post might be a better description. Yet, here I am, using the formula recommended by the author. Why? Because I can. What does this have to do with the writing life? Read on and see. 1. Cold water on a hot day. …
11 Things You Won’t Want To Miss by Lani Longshore Read More »
Two doctors decided that the doctor who diagnosed the rash on my palm a couple of months ago was mistaken. “The good news is, what he prescribed didn’t do you any harm,” one of them said. The better news is, I can use that in my writing. Stay with me here. Diagnosis is hard, and …
Long before recycling became popular—now mandatory in most counties in California—our single trash barrel for a family of four was seldom half-full for the weekly pickup. My mother repurposed every item. She bleached flour sacks and made dish towels. She sewed skirts from colorful floral chicken feed cloth bags when times were tough. During agriculture …
